Designer Costelloe blasts Rose of Tralee racists

To show solidarity with Belinda Brown, a mixed-race contestant who has suffered racist abuse, Costello has given her a dress to wear for the contest

Top fashion designer Paul Costelloe will wear his heart on her sleeve in the Rose of Tralee. To show solidarity with Belinda Brown, a mixed-race contestant and victim of racist abuse, he has given her a dress to wear in the competition.

Costelloe said he was shocked at "disgusting" online comments people have made about Brown, who is representing London. "It's outrageous and very disappointing that this came from Irish people. \ economy survives on people from all other nations. They have to grow up," he told the Irish Post, a British newspaper for Irish expatriates.

Brown, 27, whose father is Jamaican and whose mother is from Antrim, moved to Ireland when she was three and was raised in Ahoghill. Since her selection as the London Rose in June, she has been the subject of racist postings on Stormfront.org, a white supremacist chat forum operated by a former leader of